Friday, February 17, 2017

Well, not quite - but probably not too far off either. Yes, the
boys are having fun, and so far, plenty of good news. Our CNC lathe is
ready; the official training has commenced and coding is well under way.
With a bit of luck, by the end of the week they will be making their first
watch components!Sydney delivery and installation date is now June 1, which is in
accordance to the previous estimate. The other good news is that the 316L
steel samples obtained from an Australian supplier are within the required
tolerances. So at least we won't have to air freight 4 metre long rods from
Germany – or at least not for components smaller than
3mm.The lathe itself is the crucial watch parts making machine, and
this particular model is well used by both German and Swiss makers. Anyone
from Nomos to Lange has it in operation so we know that machine is capable
of producing the finest watch parts. Of course, it will take us many months
- if not years - to master it, but we are definitely heading in the right
direction.Another piece of good news is that we should be able to make even
more complex parts than we originally anticipated: the 6-axis lathe can
accept some special 'attachments' capable of cutting very fine pinions as
well as gears. However, we will be limited by the diameter – for
components larger than 3mm in diameter (main spring barrel for example) we
would need one more CNC lathe...

Thursday, February 16, 2017

In
2014 an Englishman knocked on my door. He introduced himself as a writer,
working on a new title called ‘How the World Became Obsessed with
Time’. He looked smart and sounded sharp, so I decided to give
him a chance. We chatted for about 45 minutes on a subject he found
fascinating; a small anonymous watchmaker from Australia taking on the
Swiss heavyweights. Quite frankly, I forgot all about him and our
conversation before the lift even hit the ground floor. Until last
week that is, when a customer mentioned that he’d read about the
rebelde project in a book. “What book?” I asked. “The one
written by Simon Garfield – the best-selling British author”,
he replied. Wasting no time, I went online and lo and behold,
I actually found the book. To my shock and horror, not only was I
mentioned, but Simon had wasted three and a half pages penning down our
conversation. I even got myself on the top of the index: Hacko, followed by
Harrison (George, the watchmaker), Hermes, Hillary (Sir Edmund) and Hitler
(yeah, that one).Of
course, I could not bring myself to pay the full retail price of GBP 16.99,
so I found a ‘used copy in good condition', for just US $4. I’m
not going to spoil your enjoyment of what is said, but I would recommend
that you do the same. The book is definitely worth a read.

Timekeepers is a vivid exploration of the ways we have perceived,
contained and saved time over the last 250 years, narrated in Simon
Garfield’s typically inventive and entertaining style. As managing
time becomes one of the greatest challenges we face in our lives, this
multi-layered history helps us understand it in a sparkling new
light.

Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed With
TimeBy Simon GarfieldISBN: 978 178 211 3195